Concert At Mandell JCC To Help Boy With Autism

WEST HARTFORD — — A benefit concert to help fund treatment for a boy with autism will be held at the Mandell Jewish Community Center's Herbert Gilman Theater on Sunday, May 19.

The concert features Jewish rock band Sparks from Uman. Reuvein Korenstein said he started the band for his son, Noam, who the concert benefits.

Korenstein said his son told him to travel to the gravesite of Rebbe Nachman, the founder of Breslov Hasidism, in Uman, Ukraine. The trip inspired Korenstein to play songs for his son, he said.

"I just started playing songs and something sparked in him – he started opening up more, dancing, language," Korenstein said. He got a few friends to round out the band, and their first album, "apple," will be given to donors at the event.

The money raised will go toward Natural Play Therapy for Noam.

Donations can also be made at http://www.noamsonrise.org/donate. To hear the band, visit http://www.sparksfromuman.bandcamp.com.

The concert is at the Gilman Theater, 335 Bloomfield Ave., at 12:30 p.m.